Bye bye Bolivia
So, that chapter of the journey is done. Having enjoyed my bloody trip to La Paz so much I continued straight to Copacabana, on the shores of lake Titicaca (not the famous Cuban city -just yet..). This time the bus took me all the way though I did have my doubts there for a while. Lake Titicaca is a 9,000 sq km "puddle" in the middle of the mountains and in a genuine Bolivian style it is the world's highest navigable lake. Beautiful clear water everywhere, not to mention that on the Bolivian side (it is half Peruvian and half Bolivian) there are significant places for the Inca culture, like the Isla del Sol in the picture below. The Incas believe that the Sun was born there, and also at the Northern end of the Island there is a sacred rock called the Rock of the Puma out of which supposedly the first Inca emperor arose. Too bad that the two Inca colonies on the island were having major disagreements at the time and it was impossible to get to the sacred rock by boat and there was too little time to walk it (total of 6 hours walking) thanks to the ferry timetables. Also, the ferry "forgot" to pick us (me and two locals) up at the agreed time, but we managed to get to the mainland anyway and started a long complaint-process, which ended up at me being paid 85 bolivianos in return of the original 15 I had paid for the trip. So I guess my spanish is starting to be on the '98 level again.. This time the key to winning the argument was that as I was a lawyer, I would bring the police to investigate and all the tour guides would lose their jobs and pay immense compensations out of their puny salaries to me and my fellow passengers.. Lucky they bought the story much better than I did myself. ;)
Here's a shot from the slopes of Isla del Sol. Notice how the sun shines on your face even in the shadow.
Here below is the town of Copacabana. Also quite touristy, actually surprisingly so as were many places I saw in Bolivia. I spoke more English in two weeks in Bolivia than in three months in Santiago! But anyway, Copacabana was touristy in a nice way, they did not try to scam you out of your money though service was on other level. Well, except for a small boat ride incident. This town also showed a second surprise that the shores of Lake Titicaca presented -this being that Bolivia actually has some beaches. The first surprise was that Bolivia has an Armada (logical, as it has SOOO much coastline) and according to one emblem, at least four divisions in it as well. Impressive. Actually, the debate relating to the coastline is still on in the minds of the Bolivians. Now they transport all their sea-faring goods to Arica (Northern Chile). Chile would have granted them a right for a port in the Pacific, but Bolivian pride could not accept such bits of mercy after getting their asses kicked in the war. But speculation is still a hot topic in the press at least.
After Copacabana it was time to head to La Paz. The capital is a quite peculiar town with only a bit over 2 million people in it. It is also shaped as a bowl or a stadium, and it is said that it is impossible to get lost there. I beg to differ, as street names are rarely marked and they change every now and then (however, not after every second quarter like in Peru). Talking about street names, Bolivians have really overdone the Latin American trend of naming the streets after significant dates. Either they have loads of these dates or then they used the NON-significant ones. And they even love them so much, that they extended this trend to school names and others, like bus company names. Such use of imagination can rarely be witnessed: You can say that you got the 4th of July's bus in front of 18th of September elementary school and headed down on 6th of December.
The city of La Paz is guarded by the year-round snowy-peaked mountain Illimani in the background in the photo below (some 6,400 meters high), though the city itself is only at 3,600 meters (still, in genuine Bolivian style it is world's highest.. capital), with a depth of the "stadium" being an impressive 400 meters.
Being true to my blogging habits, I went to search for a McDonald's to get a Bic Mac index number, but just to learn that they had closed the McD's there long ago.. Burger King did fight for existence with its only one surviving restaurant, but that was not of any help. Anyway, the actual reason why McDonald's are not operating there remained unclear, but I'm guessing there are politics involved. Too bad as I'm sure this would have been a price winner (or loser) on the comparison, that cheap is the country. I mean, I had a hard time spending 120 USD on anything even remotely usable in a week (this includes already lodging, 2-3 meals a day and trips totalling to some 35 hours). But the good thing about La Paz is their immense number of street vendors. I'm surprised if any supermarket sells anything there, that much of the vendors were scattered on the streets with different products ranging from plasma-TVs to hair care products and cheesy novels. All in all, Bolivia was an experience to be recommended, but not for everybody.
Best national beer tasted: Paceña centenario
Best national dish: Piqueo Macho (meats and vegetables mixed with strong condiments, local "pyttipannu")
Best sight/experience: Mine tour (the most unforgettable being still the sacrifice of llamas -easily)
posted by Kassu @ 8:00 PM
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